Film

Kubrick Festival

Through Sept. 6 (interrupted by Bumbershoot weekend), this 12-film retrospective gives you all the reason in the world to love, or hate, the late director (1928-1999). Was he frigid? Was he a misanthrope? Did Stanley Kubrick’s cautionary tales of man-versus-machine show sympathy toward humanity—or are we not worth saving? You can resume the debate with 2001: A Space Odyssey, the interstellar 1968 trip movie that quite literally launches the series. As Keir Dullea (pictured) and company near the mysterious black buzzing monolithamajig, all mankind’s evolutionary progress seems to be encapsulated, from bone-tossing cavemen to spaceships waltzing to Strauss. But have we progressed far enough to outsmart HAL? Part of the continual wonder to 2001, which earned Kubrick his sole Oscar (for visual effects), is that you almost feel sorry for the omniscient, murderous supercomputer when it begins its final slurred, drowsy rendition of “Daisy Bell.” Fatally unplugged, it becomes more like us. Do we hear Kubrick laughing at that chilly irony from the grave? Regardless, the series also includes his warmer-blooded hits like Lolita, The Shining , and Spartacus (see SIFF Web site for schedule and details).